BEST...NIGHT...EVER!!! (As Rapunzel would say)

Last night was the night of all nights!  Deseret Book hosted a banquet dinner on the 26th floor of the Church Office Building for everyone who wrote or illustrated a book for the year 2010 and/or did any music, paintings, DVD's or CD's.  Carol Xanthos (the illustrator for our books) and her husband flew in from Beaverton, Oregon to attend.  Carol said, "I feel I am at the Emmy's (for the church)."  I am including more details below for my own "blog journal."  Please don't feel like you have to read it.  :)

For our gift, Deseret Book gave us a nice remembrance trophy, the Joseph Smith Papers, a Mormon Messages DVD, and a Deseret Book credit card where we get 20% off any item at Deseret Book for one year!

This was our program for the evening.  Can you see who the remarks were from?  Yes.......Elder Holland.  How cool is that?  Elder Holland said something in his speech that I will never forget.  He said that through all the talent that was in the room and for every great work that has been published or made this past year--it is to build up the kingdom of God and that we should all remember where our inspiration came from and glorify God and not ourselves for it!  How true!!!!

Inside the program where they listed all who had created works for Deseret Book in 2010

Standing in front of the Children's Book display (these were the children's books that were published this year).

The 26th floor of the Church Office Building.  The dinner was wonderful!  They let us park underneath the Church Office Building and walk through the back doors--I don't think we will ever do that again. :)

Carol Shelley Xanthos and Michele Leigh Carnesecca.  What a last name combination!  :)

My biggest supporter!  :)  Because of him I could do this!

Chad took this picture when they had all of the writers, illustrators and artists stand up.

George and Carol Xanthos (I love that last name) and Chad and Michele Carnesecca

I made George and Carol stand there so I could get a picture of Elder Holland in the background.  Elder Holland is over George's left shoulder and he looks like he is wiping a tear from his eye.  Robert Millet is also to the left and Michael McClean, Hilary Weeks and Brad Wilcox are standing behind Carol's right shoulder.  Thanks for taking one for the team George and Carol!  :)

Sheri Dew was at the event and I LOVE HER!  She was standing next to me and in an awkward, star struck way, I took her by the arm and said the first thing that came into my head, "I love you."  She tried to be gracious and she gave me a hug, looked at my name tag as if she was saying in her head, "Who the heck are you?"  She was so kind and tried to thank me for all that I did (even though I don't think she had any idea who I was.)  I don't care--I do love her!  :)  I actually did the same awkward scenario with Jenny Phillips (singer) and Heidi Swinton (author of President Monson's biography).  I don't know why the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I meet someone I really like is, "I love you."  I need to practice at home in the bathroom mirror before Chad let's me out of the house to go to a function like this!   :)

Do you ever feel like, "One of these kids is not like the others?"  Well, I felt a little like this last night.  I was sitting among amazing people and I thought to myself, "What on earth am I doing here?"  :)  But, I enjoyed every minute of it.  Chad asked me what my favorite part of the evening was.  I said, "The beginning, middle and the end."  Here are some people that we saw and/or met at the event:  David Osmond, Robert Millet, Emily Watts, Elder Holland, Lloyd Newell, Brandon Mull, Emily Freeman, Jenny Phillips, Sheri Dew, Larry Miller's wife (I can't remember her name), John Bytheway, John Hilton, Anthony Sweat, Truman Madsen's family, S. Michael Wilcox, Brad Wilcox, Paul Cardall, Heidi Swinton, Mercy River, Alex Boye, Kris Belcher, Brent Top, Mariama Kallon, Camille Fronk Olson, Simon Dewey and Elspeth Young.

We sat at the table with Elspeth Young and her father who is also an artist.  Elspeth has painted the pictures of the Women of the Scriptures that you see at Deseret Book--they are amazing!  You may remember her from a painting called "For this child I prayed."  Anyway, her father was talking to us and described what it is like to paint.  He said, you can't control exactly what the bristles on the paint brush will do on the canvas.  He said sometimes he will be painting and he knows what he wants to do and the brush goes in a different direction and he thinks to himself, "Now the painting is ruined--this can't be fixed.  What will I do now?"  But, he tries to correct it and do the best he can and when the picture is finished, he looks at his painting and realizes that the accidental brush stroke actually needed to be there to create the amazing painting on the canvas.  He said it is as if the spirit bumps his elbow to help him create something he didn't envision or could create on his own.  I have felt so many "elbow bumps" in my life.  I am grateful when the Lord works through me to do his work and "bumps my elbow" so to speak.  I am grateful that the Lord knows what life paintings we can create--even when we don't see it in ourselves.  Brother Young talked about the paintings of Carl Bloch and he said that there is no possible way he could have created what he did without the spirit.  I am grateful for the Holy Ghost and his promptings in my life.  Because of him, the book "How Does the Holy Ghost Make me Feel" was created and I pray that this book will help children of all ages understand the mission and power of the Holy Ghost.